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Dispatch Honored for Achieving Accreditation

Post Date:05/02/2019 10:12 AM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

SAN RAMON VALLEY FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT HONORED FOR ACHIEVING ACCREDITATION AS CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

[San Ramon, California—April 30, 2019]—San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District is taking center stage in recognition of achieving the most prominent distinction in 911 emergency communication services. The communication center is the 47th emergency dispatch center in the world to attain International Academies of Emergency Dispatch® (IAED™) status as an Accredited Center of Excellence (ACE) for its use of the Fire Priority Dispatch System™ (FPDS®). San Ramon is also an ACE for its use of the Medical Priority Dispatch System™ (MPDS®). These distinctions place it among the very highest-performing emergency dispatch agencies in the world, as only 24 centers in the world have dual Fire-Medical accreditation.

ACE inspires agencies to provide superior, industry best practices in public safety and to employ efficient use of resources when handling all emergency call situations. Accreditation requires an intensive self-assessment based on the IEAD’s rigorous Twenty Points of Accreditation. In order to achieve accreditation, agencies must meet or exceed all twenty points of accreditation, which requires participation from the department chief down to the individual emergency dispatcher. Because ACE agencies abide by these standards and have fulfilled these requirements, callers can have peace of mind knowing their needs will always be appropriately addressed and that they will receive the help they need.

San Ramon is the second agency in California to achieve Fire ACE. It is also the second center in the state to have both Fire ACE and Medical ACE status. It is one of the longest-tenured Medical ACE agencies in the world, having accredited seven times beginning in 1996. In 2016, the agency also consolidated its center to do Police dispatching. San Ramon is the only primary agency in California dispatching Police, Fire, and EMS services that has dual accreditation.

San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District Director of Emergency Communications Denise Pangelinan said the center was excited to go through the process of certified in the FPDS and did so soon after it was eligible. Everyone at the agency is thrilled about the accomplishment and what it represents.

“This is a pretty big deal for our dispatchers,” Pangelinan said. “We’re an [Emergency Medical Dispatch] ACE and wanted to continue to maintain that standard of care for Fire. The staff was excited to do it. We got a lot of buy-in. They knew they would be held to a strict standard and knew that straight out of the chute we’d be going for accreditation.”

Pangelinan said within a few months of adopting the FPDS, the entire staff was meeting ACE-level performance. It helped that the emergency dispatchers were accustomed to using the MPDS, which, like the FPDS, uses a triaged system of protocols to assess the problem and send the right help and appropriate resources in a timely manner. Emergency dispatchers ask key questions, deploy first responders, and then provide safety instructions to the caller while crews are on their way.

The IAED’s Board of Accreditation reviews the center’s application and documentation of the Twenty Points and conducts a thorough on-site visit.

“There’s a tremendous amount of work that goes into achieving ACE status,” said IAED Chair of Accreditation Christof C. Chwojka. “We’re certainly proud of this agency and its accomplishment. It’s not easy becoming an ACE in two disciplines, but everyone at San Ramon did amazing work.”

Pangelinan said the center covers a community whose residents are conscientious about the quality of emergency services they receive.

“People in this community embrace the fact that we’re an ACE,” she said. “They embrace call response time. It’s all about getting information quickly and getting the right resources on the scene.”

There are more than 220 centers throughout the world that have the ACE distinction among the 3,500 centers worldwide using the fire, police, medical, and nurse triage protocols for safe and efficient response to the wide variety of emergency situations.